Valentine’s Day is supposed to be a day celebrating love and affection between intimate companions. But this Monday will be about affection between the Syracuse Orange and us, the fans.
Syracuse hosts West Virginia on Monday in a game that the Orange badly need. The Orange has lost six of its last eight games, and, more importantly, has given us the suspicion that we’re about to hear the “it’s not you, it’s me” talk.
Our dreams of one day walking the aisle (to our seats at Reliant Stadium, host of the 2011 Final Four) are quickly turning into wishful thinking.
Will Cupid’s arrow be shot our way again? If recent history is any telling tale, the answer is — um, maybe. Since 2005, the Orange has played four games on Feb. 14 at the Carrier Dome and has won two of them.
To this I have to say, “Make up your mind, Syracuse.” This Sam-and-Diane (or, for those of you who are from my generation, Ross-and-Rachel) will-they-or-won’t-they-(win) suspense is killing me.
Does SU love us, or does it love us not?
SU Loves Us Not: On Feb. 14, 2010, the largest on-campus crowd in the nation (31,053) that season at the time got its hearts broken as Louisville beat the Orange 66-60.
SU Loves Us: On Feb. 14, 2009, 31,841, the largest crowd in college basketball that season got a bouquet of winning roses as Syracuse edged Georgetown 98-94 in overtime.
SU Loves Us: On Feb. 14, 2007, Andy Rautins sent SU fans a cardboard heart box stuffed with a win as his 17 points led Syracuse over USF, 70-53.
SU Loves Us Not: On Feb. 14, 2005, Pittsburgh reminded everyone that Valentine’s Day is actually Single Awareness Day (SAD) as the Panthers topped SU 68-64.
I’ll sum up with a quote from author Barbara DeAngelis. “You never lose by loving. You always lose by holding back.”
Don’t hold back against West Virginia, Syracuse. Don’t hold back.
That’s all for this week, folks. See you at the same time, same place next week.
Sincerely,
Wesley Cheng
Editor in Chief